Caution: This article contains spoilers for Spider-man: No Way Home.

The well loved Spider-Man franchise has returned once again, producing a phenomenal movie by the standards of thousands of critics, with a well developed plot and appropriate fan service. It has surpassed every other Spider-Man movie in terms of its box office value, generating a grand yet not surprising value of more than 1.8 billion dollars.

No Way Home picks up immediately where events of the previous film left off. After an excruciating two and a half year wait, fans got to see the consequences Peter Parker faces following his startling identity reveal in Far From Home. Struggling to keep his relationships and public life in a somewhat stable condition, Peter enlists the help of Doctor Steven Strange in an attempt to produce a spell which will cause everyone to forget his secret. However, as expected, the spell backfires and Peter is burdened with the responsibility of keeping his world safe from fan favorite villains like the Green Goblin and Doc Ock who swore to destroy the only Spider-Man (or so they thought).

After the record breaking trailer of the movie portrayed a comeback of super villains from previous Spider-Man films, fans began to theorize the return of actors Toby Maguire (Spider-Man) and Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man). 

Of course, Garfield denied his involvement in No Way Home, frantically jumping around the speculation of his returning role. Maguire however, had little to respond to the rumors with and commenced his MIA era of avoiding paparazzi and all things the internet had to say. Though fans believed different things, some banking on the return of Maguire & Garfield and others saying it was never going to happen, the uncertainty of the situation undoubtedly made their appearances all the more special. 

“I saw a trailer for No Way Home with Toby, Andrew, and all of the actors during the summer,” says Amelia Rolls ‘25. “Something came out later that it was fake or fan made and I was bummed. When I saw the official trailer I was like ‘Okay, it’s still gonna be a good movie’. Then when I actually saw Toby and Andrew in theaters the surprise was ten times better.”

I know I personally shed a few tears of happiness seeing my favorite childhood characters reunite on screen, especially after the emotional turmoil director Jon Watts put his audience through with the death of Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May (RIP).

On a separate note, No Way Home takes a much more depressing approach to its ending than its preceding movies, with a newly matured Peter Parker choosing to take the responsibility of being more than a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, sacrificing his own happiness to do so.

“I really want to see where Marvel goes with Peter’s relationships with Ned and MJ, since they don’t remember him anymore.” says Carter Ross ‘23.

So what does this movie mean for Marvel and the MCU?

Marvel has yet to greenlight another addition to Holland’s Spider-Man franchise, though fans can expect the sequel to the heart felt Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film in coming months. Returning to the same repetitive formula Marvel movies typically spin would be a step down from the high expectations No Way Home has set in place.

When asked what his hopes were for the future of the Spider-Man franchise, Andrew Forman ‘25 responded with, “Spider-Man meeting the X-Men and Fantastic Four like in the comics.” 

“I really hope that they get…even if not happy endings, because I know that’s not very realistic especially in a movie series like this, at least satisfying endings.” says Amelia Rolls ‘25. “Like I want them to feel complete in the end, and I’m excited to see what new heroes the MCU comes up with.”

No matter where you stand on the Maguire vs. Garfield vs. Holland Spider-Man debate, No Way Home did an undeniably fantastic job of providing long term fans with a sense of closure with Andrew and Toby’s characters. We were able to hear the wise and long awaited words Aunt May spoke for one last time.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”